On Death & Snatches

I have been hustling since April 15, when I emptied out my bank account to help fill state and federal government coffers. I don't bemoan paying taxes - at least the concept of it - if my hard-earned dollars would actually sustain legitimate government functions, such as enhancing infrastructure, national security, law and order, conservation, and sustainable agriculture, and developing our intellectual and cultural assets via support for the humanities, arts, and natural sciences. I also think it befits a compassionate and influential world power to devote substantial resources towards humanitarian causes across the globe.

But of course, that's just a preamble to my RANT -

1. There are too many !@#$% people on the planet.
2. Everybody is his or her own special interest group, the effects of which are as insidious as any social ill blamed on "big corporations" and George W. Bush.
3. Entrenched special interests are created by market distortions. Abolish rent control! (And I say this as a renter.)
4. A flat tax is a fair tax - and that means no deductions and credits for anything.
5. Subsidies = pork. Corn farmers have brought us high fructose corn syrup and a national epidemic of obesity. Now they are paid to grow corn for ethanol, another recipe for waste and global warming. Wherefore such stupidity? Well, the presidential election cycle begins in Iowa.
6. My health, my life is my responsibility. I don't smoke, drink or ingest junk food and I don't believe I have any right to your tax dollars for my health concerns. I don't have children because I can't afford to, and nobody should have to subsidize what I can't afford. And what I'm saying, not so subtly, is I shouldn't have to pay for yours either.
7. Some taxes are legitimate if they help to neutralize negative externalities. Gas taxes are okay by my book, as long as the money is used for greenhouse gas abatement or transportation-related improvements.
8. Make Form 1040 simple and keep income taxes low. Let me have the choice to consume more, or less, or not at all.
9. Send me that damn stimulus check already, so I can buy my next Dragon Door kettlebell - 20 kg!

We can't engineer a great society with a convoluted tax code. Parsimony is beautiful!

And while I was running on empty for a fortnight, I thought about life as a flow of energy. Money, material things as waves, particles - what does it matter? It's what you make of it. Paying taxes is a form of qigong. Circulation is infinitely better than stagnation. May abundance flow through me ... And many, many happy (tax) returns to you!

The 1040 Workout

This was completed over a few days around April 15 - withholding max effort to make up for insufficient withholding to the IRS :-) I'll have to pay a penalty, so I might as well spread out the pain. Total reps = 1040.

Snatches (12 kg)
10 x (8+4+8+4), 2-minute rounds = 240 snatches

1-Arm Swings (12 kg)
8 x (25 + 25+15+15), 4-minute rounds = 640 swings

MP Ladders (8 kg + 2.5 lb. plate = 20.5 lb.)
5 x (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

TGU's (12 kg + 2.5 lb. plate = 28.5 lb.)
8 Xs, alternating right & left
+ 1R, 1L with the 16 kg - first time!!! Success!!!